Jared Dudley with the Clippers may be the textbook case of a situation that looked great on paper and not so much when he got on the court.

Dudley was better than some bitter Clippers fans give him credit for — he hit 43.2% of his corner threes and his team defense was solid as usual — but he struggled to shoot from most other places on the floor, he struggled to defend when isolated on more athletic threes, his passing was unimpressive, and his rebounding was nonexistent. His game just regressed and he was supplanted by Matt Barnes as the season wore on. You knew he would get moved this summer and he was.

“We need (his veteran presence) in the locker room as much as we need him to be himself on the court by defending and knocking down threes and being part of the team.” (Kidd said.)

Dudley said last week he struggled with the Clippers in part due to a pair of knee injuries.

“Every athlete goes through it,” Kidd said. “You’re going to have some injuries; you’re going to have a down year. But it’s how you bounce back. You get another opportunity and we look for good things from him.”

What else is Kidd going to say?

And maybe Dudley can grow into the veteran mentor role on a team loaded with young talent — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, John Henson and Larry Sanders, among others. The Bucks need that.

What Kidd needs to take away from Dudley’s last season is that he can’t lean on him for 30 minutes a night, tendonitis is something where you need to get the player some rest. Doc Rivers really never gave Dudley that early in the season (when he did later Dudley didn’t respond). Kidd knows the kind of rest his veterans need, he’s been there, he can run the younger kids more.

To start, they’ll be $4,449,228 below the hard hap, which they trigged by signing Spencer Hawes to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. They can still offer only minimum-salary contracts, but they now can add four players. Prior to this sequence, they could have added only one.

With just 11 players left after the the stretchings, the Clippers will definitely add at least two to meet the league minimum. Considering they could have just kept Raduljica – who had a decent rookie year with the Bucks last season – and still sign three new players, four seems most likely (though they had to stretch him by Sunday, so they might just be biding time).

One one-possible positive of the trade is also diminished with this route.

Dudley has a $4.25 million early termination option for 2015-16, and he’s unlikely to exercise it, so he effectively has two years left on his deal. Delfino and Raduljica have fully unguaranteed 2015-16 salaries, meaning the Clippers could have kept both and then gotten those full savings next summer.

Instead, the Clippers stretching those two means their remaining guaranteed money will be spread evenly across the next five seasons (twice the number of years remaining on their contracts plus one).

That comes out to $950,000 per year through 2018-19. That’s a long time to carry that dead weight.

But at least the Clippers will get Douglas-Roberts, Udoh and/or a couple other veterans like them.

Yet according to a person with knowledge of the Clippers’ situation, it’s likely that Delfino – who is owed $3.25 million next season and has a team option for the 2015-16 campaign – will be waived using what’s deemed the "stretch provision."

One strong free agent possibility is 27-year-old shooting guard Chris Douglas Roberts, though he can’t sign until the aforementioned moves are made. Roberts averaged 6.9 points and 20.7 minutes for the Charlotte Hornets last season in 49 games. Another possibility is big man Ekpe Udoh, the 27-year-old who visited with the Clippers on Tuesday. Udoh, who was taken sixth overall by the Golden State Warriors in the 2010 draft, spent the last three seasons coming off the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks. Raduljica is also likely to be waived by the Clippers.

If you’re wondering why the Clippers didn’t just stretch Dudley, they couldn’t because his contract was signed under the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement (hat tip: Kevin Pelton of ESPN).

When a team stretches a player, his remaining guaranteed salary counts against the cap evenly across double the number of years remaining on his contract plus one. Delfino has two years remaining, including a fully unguaranteed season. Opinions are split on whether Delfino’s remaining guaranteed salary ($3.25 million) would be spread over five years (which would account for his unguaranteed season) or three years (which wouldn’t). I believe, though I see logic behind both interpretations, it would be spread over five years, but it’s not totally clear.

The Clippers are hard-capped due their signing of Spencer Hawes for the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, and they currently lack room to sign another player. If they stretch Delfino – regardless of whether his salary is spread over five or three years – they could sign three players to minimum one-year contracts.

It’s unclear whether the Clippers plan to stretch or Raduljica, who is owed $1.5 million this season followed by an unguaranteed year, or eat his entire salary this season. But stretching him and Delfino – again regardless of whether their salaries are spread across three or five years – would allow the Clippers to add a fourth minimum-salary player.

Because the Clippers have already used their full mid-level and bi-annual exceptions, they have no mechanism to offer free agents more than minimum salaries. Perhaps, though, they have a trade up their sleeve. Hopefully they do – because free agents are slim pickings.

No unrestricted free agent left on the market justifies sending away a first-round pick. Not Douglas-Roberts and Udoh, both of whom are fine but available for a reason.

Doc Rivers clearly wasn’t fond of Dudley, but this was far too steep of a price to pay for the ability sign a couple extra minimum-salary players. Had they just kept Dudley, the Clippers could have fit one more minimum-salary player under the hard cap.

Beyond losing a first-round pick, the Clippers will also face a cap hit for Delfino (and maybe Raduljica) multiple years in the future. That negates some of the savings scheduled for next summer, when Dudley’s contract remains guaranteed and Delfino’s and Raduljica’s don’t.

Yes, Dudley is gone, but at some point the Clippers must show what they gained. It apparently won’t be Delfino or Raduljica.

Inglis will make $820,000 this season and $855,000 next season, both full guaranteed, and has a third $980,431 unguaranteed year, according to Basketball Insiders. Those are decent raises over the minimum salary, something the Bucks – who have cap room – could offer.

But that doesn’t mean Inglis is destined for a huge year. Inglis – behind Bruno Caboclo, Aaron Gordon, Noah Vonleh, James Young and Dante Exum – was the draft’s sixth-youngest player. Coming from France, Inglis is still pretty raw.

Don’t be surprised to see Inglis spend time in the D-League. At least he’ll be getting an NBA salary while he develops.

The big difference: Delfino and Raduljica both have fully unguaranteed 2015-16 salaries, and Dudley’s is fully guaranteed (with an early termination option).

So, the Clippers – unless they really like Raduljica, who made decent contributions as a 26-year-old rookie center last season – won’t see immediate benefits of the trade. Maybe they can flip Delfino and/or Raduljica for a player on a longer contract, but at minimum, the Clippers will have more flexibility next summer. (Update: Wojnarowski deleted a tweet saying Delfino would miss the season. If he’s healthy, he could help the Clippers on the wing.)

Until then, the hard-capped Clippers are now just $649,228 beneath their salary limit. Because of rules related to computing team salary in relation to the hard cap, the Clippers essentially have no room left to sign free agents, though they could trade for a drafted second-round rookie who is making $649,228 or less.

That’s not a long list, so don’t expect the Clippers to change much more before the season begins. The 13 players have now are likely the 13 they roll with.

The Clippers already owe the Celtics their 2015 first rounder, meaning this pick can’t be transferred until 2017 at the earliest. So, again, the Clippers’ flexibility is limited.

Either they really like Raduljica or they really wanted to dump Dudley.

For Milwaukee, this is a good way to add an asset – the draft pick, not Dudley. With or without Dudley, the Bucks probably aren’t going anywhere this season. So, they might as well take Dudley and the pick.